Doggystyle is way better than Illmatic

I always hear Illmatic being hailed as the "the best album ever", "the bible of rap," or an album that's in a league of its own. I've never agreed with this at all. While it is a great album, there's a bunch of albums from that era that are as good, if not superior to Illmatic.

Doggystyle is one of those albums. Although its lyrics aren't as advanced as those on Illmatic , there's no denying that when it comes to production, replay value and number of classic tracks, Doggystyle crushes it. Illmatic is obviously a classic too, but the crucial point here is that it's a weaker classic than Doggystyle and just cannot compete with it as an overall album.

Lets not be afraid to be honest....shit just bumps way more than Illmatic.

Musically, yeah. But Nas never needed help to write his rhymes, was more diverse... and The World Is Yours>>>>>>>>

Great points though... Doggystyle is hard to beat.

I love The World Is Yours. "I need a new ni99a, for this black cloud to follow/Cause while it's over me it's too dark 2 see tomorrow" is one of my favorite lines ever from any album. Illmatic is as an undisputed classic. But if you put lllmatic's 9 songs up against Doggystyle's 13 songs and analyze everything, I think it's a lot closer than some people would care to acknowledge.

Apples and oranges and besides that it's been 18 years since these joints were released. What's the sense of making this thread. If you wanted to make a more realistic comparison you could have compared Illmatic with OB4CL IMHO.

Apples and oranges and besides that it's been 18 years since these joints were released. What's the sense of making this thread. If you wanted to make a more realistic comparison you could have compared Illmatic with OB4CL IMHO.

Gotta agree with you on OB4CL.

Conceptually, musically, thematically, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was a better album. Illmatic would be the better lyrical album, but I think having a more fluid overall story and theme on an album necessitates trading off lyrical wittiness. That's not to say that Raekwon and Ghost didn't bring it on another level when it comes to lyrics.

Apples and oranges and besides that it's been 18 years since these joints were released. What's the sense of making this thread. If you wanted to make a more realistic comparison you could have compared Illmatic with OB4CL IMHO.

Gotta agree with you on OB4CL.

Conceptually, musically, thematically, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was a better album. Illmatic would be the better lyrical album, but I think having a more fluid overall story and theme on an album necessitates trading off lyrical wittiness. That's not to say that Raekwon and Ghost didn't bring it on another level when it comes to lyrics.

Illamtic wasn't even receive as it is today then when it was released. it later became a bandwagon opion that many would just go with.
Illmatic is just lyrics, it's not too musically ill. Doggystle may not had lyrics on Nas, but many dope lyrics on there.
Hip Hop is no poem, if so we wouldn't need the music with it.
Doggystyle gave incredibility dope music and rap at the time.

To be honest, other than being hailed as a classic illmatic is so dated, Doggystyle is still musically fresh, as if it's current music.